Will a SC jury convict the cop who murdered Walter Scott?

[Are_grits_groceries]

This should be a slam dunk, but nothing about SC, cops, and race ever is. When I told a friend I had my fingers crossed for a conviction, he thought I was nuts. It only takes one juror to hang the whole thing.
Will the cop take a plea bargain? It depends on what the parameters are and how the prosecution presents them. Juries are a crap shoot in the best of circumstances.

The defense will probably build up the short parts that aren't on tape to make Scott seem like a monster. They can't do anything with what is there which is horrible. A lot of the problem is how laws are written. It's what the cop thinks is happening in the circumstances or some such factor.

I think there's a good chance he will be convicted, but I am going to keep my fingers crossed.

[leftynyc]

1. Because this is in South Carolina

and they just may change venue using the too much pretrial coverage making a fair trial impossible (bullshit but they'd be crazy not to try it), I'm not exactly hopeful they will do the right thing. The state just doesn't have that reputation for this kind of thing. Yes, it certainly looks like a slam dunk of a case but I don't trust S. Carolina to get this right. Whether they make it easy by overcharging the cop (that's what happened with Zimmerman) or some other cheeky way to avoid a conviction, I expect the state will do whatever they can NOT to get a conviction. Jurors may just feel that losing his job was enough punishment.

[Journeyman]

2. Does anyone know what's happened with South Carolina Trooper Sean Groubert. . .

He was the officer who shot a man in the leg during a stop in a gas station. Groubert claimed he confronted the man because his seatbelt was off. When the Trooper asked the man to show his ID, the guy moved to get it from out of his car and the officer shot him in the leg. Asked to explain his action, Groubert said the main had dove into his car headfirst, so there was reason to shoot.

Groubert was relieved of duty, fired from his job, and faces felony assault charges. This all happened last September, but I can't find anything on the case since.

http://www.autoblog.com/2014/09/25/video-white-police-officer-shoots-unarmed-black-motorist/

[Are_grits_groceries]

7. The state has already settled with the man shot.

It was for $300,000.
This is all that's known that I could find:
He will not discuss the pending case against former Highway Patrol trooper Sean Groubert, who shot an unarmed motorist at a gas station in the Columbia area in September after stopping him for a seat-belt violation. Groubert, who was fired by the patrol, faces a charge of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature.
Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/news/local/crime/article15654974.html#storylink=cpy

[mercuryblues]

13. he state

settled, but his trial verdict will be determined until July.

[Are_grits_groceries]

16. Yes. I realize that. Nt

[ann---]

3. Not sure

especially if the majority of the jury are whites.

[joshcryer]

4. Odds are he tries to plead guilty to manslaughter.

If the DA is remotely competent he'll go for at least second degree murder, possibly first degree. I suspect a compromise will be made for second degree murder, if the DA doesn't go for it, the jury will maybe give him a second degree offense. (Witness testimony about a struggle and testimony on the stand by the perp will maybe pull it off. "I thought he took the taser, I was wrong, and I'm so sorry.&quot

Obviously a first degree offense is desirable, but I don't see the jury doing it.

[merrily]

5. That may depend on the composition of the jury pool and how members of the jury are selected.

[Are_grits_groceries]

6. If they get a change of venue to the upstate,

then chances of a conviction drop. The upstate is the NW area of the state and it's much more conservative. Hopefully, if it"s moved. It will not be there.

I don't think the state can afford to not pursue this with vigor. You even have those hypocritical bastids like Sen.Tim Scott. Goober, Mark Sandford and the rest decrying the incident.

We will see.

[cali]

8. I hope so. My guess is he'll copt to a plea.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

9. I don't even know that it matters that it's SC.

Convicting cops of murdering a black man (or child) is a damn hard thing to do anywhere in the country, no matter how much evidence there is. We've seen that time and again over the last year. We thought video would make a difference, but time and again, what seems blatantly like murder by videos provided to the public leads to cops walking free.

[cali]

10. the hopeful difference in this case is that he was charged with murder.

[mercuryblues]

11. The family

hired Jack Swerling. He is an extremely good lawyer who does not resort to smearing. He doesn't have to. If any lawyer can get him a not guilty verdict, it is him. Notice the difference between The Martin and Brown cases, where the smears against the victims started almost immediately. Here you have the cop's Mom on TV saying she grieves for Scott's family and such. She did not bring up Scott's personal troubles (implying they somehow deserved to be killed) like Zimmerman's and Wilson's family did.

[Vinca]

12. Anything is possible. I thought the Eric Garner case was a slam dunk.

[sabrina 1]

23. And that was a NY GJ. SC, NY, I don't have much faith in any justice when a cop is involved. But a

tiny baby step was taken with this case. He was instantly charged with murder. No GJ. Had there been, it probably would have resulted in no charges.

[Lurks Often]

14. Yes, the jury will convict barring some game changing new evidence

and no I don't expect any such evidence to appear.

Even if the first trial ends in a hung jury or a mis-trial, the prosecutors can still try him again with a different jury. Double jeopardy does not apply to a hung jury or a mis-trial.

And even on the microscopic chance Slager beats the state charges, you have the Federal civil rights charges to go after him with.

Slager will be spending most, if not all, of his life behind bars.

[jberryhill]

15. Working on this bracket....

[sinkingfeeling]

17. It's doubtful.

[Calista241]

18. You do realize South Carolina has

A black Senator serving in Washington and an Indian American woman serving as governor. Two statewide, high profile elected positions, and they're both minority's.

I realize they're both Repubs, but perhaps they're not as racist and sexist as we'd like to think.

[Are_grits_groceries]

21. Oh yes they are.

They don't give a damn about anybody but themselves. I wanted to throw up when Tim Scott showed up at the funeral.

[951-Riverside]

19. Yes. This isnt LA, San Francisco, Chicago, NYC or DC where cops are almost never charged...

let alone convicted.

I think the people there have a strong sense of right and wrong and they will do the right thing here although he will probably be allowed to plea out before it ever goes to trial and get a 10 year sentence or if they're really corrupt, it's "whooopsies! we don't know what happened to Mister Cop Person! The jail house cameras just happened to be malfunctioning".

[ieoeja]

20. Man in a Chicago bar last night argued the shooting was justified because he was running away.

LOTS of Americans are fully support the right for cops to shoot fleeing suspects. Expect the gungeoneers to ask, "what if he had been on a murder spree? Would you want cops to let him get away to murder again? If cops have the right to kill a fleeing murder suspect, then where do we draw the line? How is it even possible to make a proper distinction?"

So, no, the cop will not be convincted.

[bermudat]

22. In a word.....no.